Thursday, May 31, 2012

To make a good drink you need good ingredients. Neon "maraschino" cherries are not a good ingredient. Either buy some Luxardo cherries or make your ownbrandied cherries. Though to be fair I haven't even followed my own advice, yet. I'm getting by with Twilight Cherries. Anyway, the neon ones are to be avoided. I was once tempted by some stemmed blue cherries but they stayed on the shelf. And then...

Whilst shopping with Cutes she spied a jar of green cherries. I paid them no mind as I figured they were for baking. Then I noticed the stems.

"You should get these," she said. "They could be a blog topic."

"I don't know," said I.

Then I read the label. May contain pits? Lime flavoured? Made by Whytes?

Lime flavoured!?

Lime flavoured!?

Yes, Doug, onions lime flavoured!

So with coercion approval from the missus I bought a jar. I expected them to smell like green popsicles and that is exactly what I was greeted with when I opened the jar. The taste was less acidic than an actual lime but still more like lime than, say, cherry. Eating one is a bit of a trip akin to eating a Dorito and tasting a cheeseburger thought nowhere near as awesome.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Some time ago while perusing the Flickr group Exotic Cocktails and Tiki Mugs I came across Mr Bali Hai'sTortuga. It intrigued me. Unfortunatley once I set sail I was turned away by the acrid smoke of the lime zest cannons. Overzealous garnishing and my fault entirely I'm sure. Recently, bravely, I set sail again.

Under the convenient flag of the blood orange Captain Vermouth and First Mate Grenadine sail their three masted lime hulled ship. They are a worthy match to the guns of Bergeron and San Felipe. Unfortunately their vessel is ultimately sunk in the rough waters of the crushed ice sea, but they survive. An uneasy peace is achieved. Blood oranges and cocoa are consumed in hesitant celebration. But the Cpt remains on the qui vive for more guns.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

When I was young(er) a common source of refreshment was lime cordial topped with soda water. This is as much a shorter grown-up version of that as it is a virgin gimlet. It's actually much better than I anticipated and makes me want to try the Mocktini found in The Complete book of Mixed Drinks. Another time, perhaps.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

I found this one in TheComplete book of Mixed Drinks. There are several drinks in it calling for grapefuit, lime, and something. This one intrigued me most. The book calls for Lite-n-Low which I assume is the Aussie version of Sweet'N Low. I used stevia. Here's my adaption of the recipe.

Recently(ish) a bottle of rum cream came into my possession. Straight from Jamaica even! The label proclaims it's made with genuine overproof white rum yet for some reason the product is brown. Hmmm. White rum + cream (assumedly white) = cafe au lait coloured product. What's that all about? Some sort of secret process by which alcohol is emulsified with cream (and stable at room temp and not requiring refrigeration) also necessitates added colour? Maybe. I'm not a food scientist. I'm not any kind of scientist for that matter.

Unlike some other products I've had that taste vaguely of alcohol and mostly of cream this is definitely made with rum. Even at 15% abv anyone else (with working olfactory senses) in the room you're in will know you're drinking rum!

So, when next someone you know goes to Jamaica and asks what (legal things) you'd like brought back as a souvenir you could do worse than to ask for Wray & Nephew Rum Cream.

Friday, May 18, 2012

While I appreciate comments on my blog as much as the next blogger it's a little disheartening when most of it is spam. Sometimes it gets past the filters but it's still really spam. Here are two recent comments I've decided not to allow. Instead i will present them here as found prose/poetry:

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